Weekend of Welcomes in County Limerick village

ADARE’S French connection has stepped up a gear with the signing of the first documents in the twinning process with French town Villecresnes.

ADARE’S French connection has stepped up a gear with the signing of the first documents in the twinning process with French town Villecresnes.

And the signing marked the opening of Adare’s Weekend of Welcomes which will run for the weekend and which is expected to attract scores of home-grown and international visitors to the town.

“We are in the early stages still,” community council chairwoman Meriel Clarke said of the twinning process. “This is like our engagement party. We are signing a letter of intent.” The final signing of the twinning agreement, she added, would hopefully take place early next year. “We are going to take it slowly,” Ms Clarke continued.

They plan to set up connections between the schools to begin with and then to spread out to all areas of culture and sport while a visit to Villecresnes for their annual community festival in November could also be on the cards. “We want to start with one or two things and let it develop from there. It should progress naturally,” Ms Clarke said. “There are also business opportunities.”

The town of Villecresnes has a population of 7,000-plus and lies about 25 km south of Paris, and like Adare, its built heritage, including its chateau, has been well-preserved.

The town is already twinned with communities in Italy and Germany and was keen to link up with an English-speaking town.

A very positive visit by a private citizen to Adare was the spark which got the process going. A delegation from Villecresnes, which included the Mayor and Deputy Mayor visited Adare earlier this week and the process of twinning has been gathering pace since.

Meawnile, the first banquet to be held in Adare Castle for 400 years is expected to be one of the highlights of the Weekend of Welcomes and this will take place on Saturday.

Adare Manor will host a Victorian tea-party in the formal gardens on Sunday afternoon.

A concert has been organised for St Nicholas’ Church and there will be music sessions in all the village hostelries. Antiques expert George Stacpoole will be valuing forgotten treasures on

There will be a Teddy Bear’s picnic in the park on Saturday afternoon as well as an open air concert and a children’s camp will run in the Woodlands House Hotel over the weekend. There will also be guided tours.

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